<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With festival season upon us, what better time is there to celebrate maximalism? At this current point in time, we seem to be obsessed with minimalist aesthetics: “clean girl” and sad beige home decor plague our For You pages and Instagram feeds. Too often I see renovation videos where someone demolishes the character out of their home in the name of modernization. Every makeup video on the internet these days is a “clean girl” tutorial, accompanied by copy and paste slick back buns and Rhode lip tints in the shade ribbon. Our 2016 beauty guru ancestors would be horrified; with their cut-crease eyeshadow looks to attend high school gym class. To me, that’s true dedication. Unfortunately, we’ve lost the plot&#8211;why have we regressed into a society that encourages and celebrates stylistic conformity? The popularity of TikTok is in part to blame, because it produces a sense of pressure to fit into a specific aesthetic or niche. The birth of the “clean girl” post-covid was a signal of the beginning of the end. People so badly want to portray a certain lifestyle on the internet in an attempt to convince onlookers that they are prim and proper, and have themselves together. And clearly, it works because it wouldn’t be a trend otherwise.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In reality, the it-girls of our time (and of time’s past) are not remotely prim and proper. They don’t embody this unnatural sense of “clean” that we agonize ourselves over. Being an it-girl does not stem from conforming to the trends of TikTok. True it-girls are maximalists at heart: with what they wear, how they interact with others, and how they express themselves in their everyday lives. Take Charli xcx for example: Adorned by her big curly hair and edgy attire, she parties until the wee hours of the morning and glamourizes a raunchy, unkempt lifestyle. Her album “BRAT” was a smash hit this past summer and has been solidified as a hyperpop staple. Or Doechii, who recently won Best Rap Album at the Grammys for “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” and has one of the most unique and thoughtfully curated aesthetics right now. The album is an homage to her Florida roots and an exhibition of her musical and stylistic prowess. Would Charli or Doechii be where they are in their careers if they were trying to conform? Most definitely not. Authenticity is what is celebrated and rewarded, not following rules laid out for us online by TikTok influencers. At the end of the day, their only job is to sell products to us; and we buy into it every time. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My call to action for us all is to ditch the obsession with conformity. To discover your personal style, you can’t be afraid to be unconventional in every area of your life. We were obsessed with maximalism during the pandemic, and though we look back on some of our outfits with distaste (at least in my case), at least we put effort into being unique. Let’s channel that energy going into festival season, and continue it once it’s over. </span></p>
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<div class="wp-biographia-container-top" style="background-color: #FFEAA8; border-top: 4px solid #000000;"><div class="wp-biographia-pic" style="height:100px; width:100px;"><img alt='' src='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f5b508fb6dbea651e5a82e9e893d275e2ba5564e48aa2ea490dda485790d4fe1?s=100&#038;d=wp_user_avatar&#038;r=g' srcset='https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/f5b508fb6dbea651e5a82e9e893d275e2ba5564e48aa2ea490dda485790d4fe1?s=200&#038;d=wp_user_avatar&#038;r=g 2x' class='wp-biographia-avatar avatar-100 photo' height='100' width='100' /></div><div class="wp-biographia-text"><h3>About <a href="https://tulanemagazine.com/author/omarujo/" title="Olivia Marujo">Olivia Marujo</a></h3><p>Olivia Marujo is a sophomore from Boston majoring in Marketing. She enjoys all aspects of fashion, and in her free time she loves to thrift and hunt for the best Depop finds!</p><div class="wp-biographia-links"><small><ul class="wp-biographia-list wp-biographia-list-text"><li><a href="mailto:&#111;maruj&#111;&#64;&#116;&#117;&#108;an&#101;&#46;e&#100;&#117;" target="_self" title="Send Olivia Marujo Mail" class="wp-biographia-link-text">Mail</a></li> | <li><a href="https://tulanemagazine.com/author/omarujo/" target="_self" title="More Posts By Olivia Marujo" class="wp-biographia-link-text">More Posts(12)</a></li></ul></small></div></div></div><!-- WP Biographia v4.0.0 -->

An Ode to Maximalism in the Age of Minimalism
Feature image via Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/pin/703756187365335/